Gallery: Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q coming to Hamilton Place

Two new businesses are coming to Hamilton Place, with plans to open this fall.

Altar'd State, a boutique clothing retailer based in Maryville, Tenn., will move into Hamilton Place mall, where it will have a 5,200-square-foot store.

Also, restaurant chain Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q will open an eatery at The Shoppes at Hamilton Place adjacent to the mall at the former Fox & Hound site.

David Meadows, the mall's senior general manager, said the pair will complement the existing mix in the Hamilton Place area and give visitors more options when it comes to retail and dining.

Meadows said the additions enable the East Brainerd retail center to offer "a unique collection of local and regional brands as well as nationally known favorites."

Work on both spaces is slated to begin this week, with Altar'd State going on the mall's upper level near Belk.

Stacey Keating, a spokeswoman for mall operator CBL Properties Inc., said that Altar'd State sells clothing, accessories and home decor items.

Great American Cookies and two other businesses, Justice and Claire's, relocated to make room for the new-to-the-market retailer, she said.

"They've been growing in the CBL portfolio," said Keating. "Their storefronts are absolutely beautiful. It's a great location for them."

Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q, based in Birmingham, Ala., has 39 restaurants in seven states. The typical restaurant in the chain employs between 70 and 80 employees, said company spokeswoman Katelyn Hudson.

The business was founded in 1985 by father and son Jim and Nick Pihakis. The restaurant specializes in barbecuing and smoking meat "low and slow," according to the company, offering beef, chicken, pork, turkey and cheese biscuits.

Brian Lyman, the chain's president, said the new restaurant will be its sixth in Tennessee and he cited the location within the Hamilton Place footprint.

"And we can't wait to start building a community of strong ties and relationships in Chattanooga," he said in a statement.

Altar'd State was begun in 2009 by Brian Mason and Aaron Walters. The first unit opened in Knoxville as a modern Christian retail store and coffee shop, but the owners felt that the store needed something different and they later added fashion apparel, jewelry and accessories.

A second store was opened in Birmingham, followed by nine more in 2011 in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Virginia.

Keating said Great American Cookies is open in its new location on the mall's upper level next to Sleep Number.